


Excise

by screechfox



Series: Amputate [4]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Cybernetics, Gen, It's okay to have friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 08:11:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10407732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screechfox/pseuds/screechfox
Summary: When Nilesy and Lomadia come to visit Strife again, they bring the only other person they know who's missing an eye and an arm. Whether due to Zoeya's natural charisma or simple curiosity on Strife's part, they strike up a rapport.(Or, in which Strife learns that, maybe, it's okay to have friends.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> at last, i have concluded this series! and with zoeya, no less, which is the best way to finish it. i'm going to try and get as many of my wips finished as possible before kicking out of this fandom.

When Nilesy and Lomadia come over to repay Strife for the advice he’d given them, they’ve got a friend with them. 

Well, he assumes that the woman beside them is a friend, considering how animatedly Nilesy seems to be talking to her. Frustratingly, Strife can’t tell who it is from his seat on the top floor, but she’s chatting with him just as brightly.

Brilliant.

With a sigh, Strife gives up all pretense of working and heads down to the entrance hall so he can greet them as they enter.

“Ah, hello, Strife!” Nilesy is evidently as exuberant as ever, with a bright, toothy grin that even Strife has to find a little endearing. He isn’t paying Nilesy too much mind, though - Strife needs to figure out this stranger.

Her hair is red. Strife’s not one given to noticing these things, but her hair is so very red that it kind of resists being overlooked. Still, he’s more interested in her clothing, and what he can tell from that - it’s an odd sort of mixture of desert wear and cyberpunk, as if someone with a healthy interest in fashion couldn’t decide between the two styles.

“Good afternoon, Nilesy, Lomadia,” he hesitates for a second, “Madam,” He takes a step forward and holds his metal hand out to the woman, trying his best to make a good impression.

She takes his hand with one that gleams silver, slightly too cool against his palm. Her grin is just as sunny as Nilesy’s but slightly lop-sided. Scar tissue runs down the right side of her face.

“Oh gosh, I’m a madam.” She laughs, high-pitched, but it doesn’t seem nervous to Strife. Maybe quite the opposite, if he’s reading her correctly. “Just Zoeya’s fine.”

Oh. Strife’s heard that name before.

He doesn’t actually know who told him the name, admittedly. It might have been Xephos, in one of the briefest rundowns of history Strife thinks he’s ever heard. It might have been Honeydew, filling in with his own good-natured quips. More likely, someone mentioned her in passing - one of his customers, once upon a time.

But what he does know, is that it’s an old name, in these parts. Older than Xephos and Honeydew’s, even, though far less influential. 

This woman is almost certainly more than she seems to be.

“William Strife, CEO of Strife Solutions,” he offers in return, giving her a smile - or at the very least, an expression that isn’t a scowl.

They shake hands, and then an awkward silence falls on the room for a moment.

Someone coughs to break it, Strife isn’t quite sure who, and then Nilesy is beaming at him even wider.

“This is the friend I was telling you about last time, Strife!”

Strife hums and nods, frowning as he looks Zoeya over again, trying to puzzle out all the mysteries he can from her strange attire and technological… upgrades? They’re certainly something, that’s for sure.

She steps forward a pace or two, with a tilted head, looking him over in turn. When her gaze falls on his face, she laughs at something.

“Hey,” she says, sounding altogether too amused. “Snap!” She motions to his arm, and then to his eye, with a toothy grin on her face.

Strife’s brow furrows. He peers at her, and sure enough, underneath the green visor on her face, there’s the milky film of an unseeing eye - though, if the arm at her side is any indication, Zoeya’s eye isn't as unseeing as it seems.

Okay, that is kind of funny, in a morbid way that Strife is used to, at this point. A corner of his mouth turns up, and he nods.

“What are the chances of that,” he says, his tone something approaching amused.

Nilesy gasps theatrically. “Would you look at that, Zoeya,” he says, reaching through Strife’s personal space to elbow her in the side. “In all my years, I’ve never gotten the illustrious Mr. Strife to crack a smile.”

“What can I say,” she shoots right back, grinning wider. “I’m just a natural people person.”

Then she looks back at Strife and quirks her lips in a sort of frown - the expression obscured by her scarring, as well as the fact that she still looks inherently amused.

“I guess the chances probably aren’t that high. I mean, I’ve never really heard about anyone with actual robot arms before, y’feel me? I think Lalna had a power glove, but-- Yeah! The chances are pretty low!”

Before Strife can reply, because this actually sounds like a pretty interesting line of conversation, Lomadia clears her throat.

“As much as this is very pleasant,” and she means it too, judging by the smile curving her lips, “We do actually have a delivery to make.”

She shucks her bag off her shoulder and balances it on her hip as she rummages through it.

Zoeya tilts her head at Lomadia, apparently not having been informed about this, which is odd. Maybe she just bumped into Nilesy and Lomadia, somehow.

There’s a few seconds of rummaging, the bag clearly deeper than it looks, and then Lomadia pulls out a few bars of gold. In all honesty, it’s an overzealous payment for a few bits of shaky advice, but Strife isn’t going to complain. 

She hands them over with a businesslike nod. Strife brings up his inventory on his arm, and carefully places them inside.

Zoeya’s head tilt returns to Strife at once as he closes the projection, no gold bars in sight.

“Oh my gosh, how did you build that?” Her tone isn’t really that awed. It’s more just curious, and her eyes glitter. “I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

Despite himself, Strife feels a little flattered. 

“It’s relatively simple, with the right equipment,” he says. “It’s just a few tricks with teleportation and matter re-assembly, and the like.”

Nilesy makes a face - the ‘Strife’s about to give a lecture’ face, to be precise. Strife ignores him, giving Zoeya another small smile. 

Zoeya nods, making a contemplative sound. “Hm, okay, okay. I hadn’t really considered using teleportation like that before! I’ll have to see what materials Rythian will let me scrounge up!”

Rythian… It’s another name that Strife has heard before, but he can’t seem to remember the context of it. Clearly, these two must live far away, if he hasn’t come across them himself in all of his exploration.

“I’ll see what Nilesy and I have lying around,” Lomadia says, smiling at Zoeya. “You know we’ve not got much use for tech, so we can always strike up a trade.”

Zoeya nods, beaming toothily at Lomadia and clapping her hands together.

“Oh, you’re awesome! Rythian gives me all the tech we get, but he’s Rythian. We’re not exactly rolling in it.”

Before any of the others can speak, Nilesy clears his throat.

“Uh, Strife? Do you have a sitting room or anything? It’s good to catch up, but just standing around all day is going to kill my feet.” 

Lomadia cocks a brow at him but stays silent. Strife has to take a moment to think about the question, then nods, with some hesitance.

“I think I’ve got something close enough,” he says, and motions for everyone to follow him.

He tunes out the quiet conversations the rest of them have on their way through the building, but something in his chest seems to have eased. He’s not quite sure why.

 

Upstairs, they reach a disused sitting room. He hadn’t really been thinking when he built it - it’s not as if he receives many visitors in the Minecraftian branch of his business, and it had mostly been for show in his more prosperous set-ups, anyhow.

The red sofas and polished floors don’t hint at the disuse, though. Thanks to his cleaning bots, there’s no speck of dust on the floor, no wear and tear on the soft crimson fabric.

Well, at least there wasn’t any wear and tear on the sofas. With the force that Nilesy practically throws himself onto one of them, Strife thinks that might have changed.

“God, we need to get some of these at our base! These are even comfier than our beds.”

Zoeya sits down on an empty sofa with similar enthusiasm, visibly relaxing.

“Oh, gosh, these are really nice!” She looks over at Strife, beaming at him. “Do you think I could buy one from you? Rythian’s magic is all good, and that, but I haven’t felt this comfy in years!”

Lomadia sets herself down carefully next to Nilesy, leaving Strife’s only option as sitting next to Zoeya. He fidgets for a moment, pretending to contemplate the question as he decides whether he wants to sit next to the almost-complete stranger.

“I’m sure we could work out a deal,” he says as a non-answer, giving up on his internal conflict and carefully placing himself on the sofa next to her.

Zoeya beams at him, nodding enthusiastically.

“It’s the thing about living in a tent in the desert: we’ve not got any, ah, home comforts anymore.” Zoeya makes a face of exaggerated displeasure.

“Because your cold, stuffy castle was much so better,” Nilesy interjects, tone wry.

Strife takes a moment, and then: “Castle?” He looks at Zoeya, brow furrowed.

Zoeya waves a hand breezily. “Yeah, I used to live in a castle! Most of which I designed myself so, hey, don’t insult the castle, Nilesy!”

That… hasn’t actually shed any light on the situation for Strife.

“Why would you live in a castle, of all things?” It doesn’t seem like the most practical thing to Strife, not when he’s used to his own style of building.

Zoeya shrugs. “Rythian wanted to! Because he’s Rythian, and everything’s got to be all dark and broody and stuff. Lalna lived in a castle too! I mean, maybe he still does, we haven’t spoken since-- Yeah! It was the height of fashion a few years ago!”

“I don’t think any Lalna I’ve met has lived in a castle,” Strife says, frowning, but he lets it go. “You… live in a tent in the desert, instead?”

Zoeya nods. “I mean, it’s not just a tent. There’s a whole bigger camp with our animals, and Tee’s watch-house, and Rythian’s magic stuff, and my tech stuff! And we can’t forget Cabertown!”

Nilesy mutters something at the mention of this ‘Cabertown’, rolling his eyes and turning to Lomadia. Lomadia just huffs, exasperated but fond, and Strife realises that this might be the longest he’s ever spent cordial time with them.

“Okay, well, that’s… interesting,” Strife says, not really sure what it is. “How did you end up going from a castle to a desert camp?”

He realises belatedly that this might count as being nosy, but he can’t bring himself to stop asking questions. Honestly, he just wants to figure out where he’s heard of Zoeya before.

Zoeya pauses, and tension suddenly seems to crackle in the air. The affectionate smiles on Nilesy and Lomadia’s faces both fade and Strife hasn’t got a clue what he did wrong. (Well, he knows what he did, he just doesn’t know why it was wrong.)

The silence stretches on for a moment, and Strife is about to take the question back when Zoeya speaks.

“The castle got blown up,” She says. Her tone is airy, but there’s something underneath; a current of-- sadness? Anger? Which is fair, Strife thinks: her castle got blown up.

“What?” Strife’s voice is slightly higher than normal - incredulous, though he’s not sure he wants further explanation. 

“La-- Someone put a nuke under it,” she says, elaborating in that same airy-but-not voice. “It blew up when I tried to disarm it.”

She gestures with her metal arm. Strife’s eyes widen.

“You survived a nuke?” 

Zoeya laughs, ever so slightly. “Yeah, I did. I eat nukes for breakfast, don’tcha know?”

Strife is no less incredulous for her joking.

“How in hell did you survive a nuke?”

She shrugs one shoulder. “I guess I’m just that awesome, aren’t I?” She pauses, then, “I guess Rythian helped too. Used a bunch of magic trying to heal me.”

“I--” Strife is kind of in shock, right now. After a few moments, he collects himself. “I’m sorry I asked. That sounds… really awful.”

Zoeya makes a contemplative noise, then shrugs. “Yeah, I guess! Kind of sucked at the time, and I’m not a big fan of explosions, but… I have a super cool robot arm, now, and in the end, everyone got out safe! It was like a bonding experience! A terrible, painful, bonding experience!”

Strife frowns, and nods, not really sure what to say to that. Lomadia and Nilesy seem equally lost for words, though Strife is pretty sure they’ve heard that story before.

After a few seconds sitting in silence, Zoeya shrugs again and breaks it.

“So, how did you lose your arm? So we’re even!” Her tone isn’t particularly malicious, just curious again, and he summons up a small smile.

“There was… an accident, building some robotics.” Then, for good measure, he gestures to his robotic eye. “And this was a magic… thing.” He doesn’t want to go into too much detail, but figures she deserves the truth since she gave it to him.

“Oh?” She tilts her head, smiling slightly. “Do you do magic? Nilesy said you were more of a tech guy!”

Now it’s Strife’s turn to pause, trying to come up with the best way to phrase an uncomfortable situation. It takes him a moment, and he fidgets with his hands awkwardly.

“My… friend, Parv. He does blood magic. I keep him out of trouble.” He shrugs stiffly, not entirely sure how to say anything else on the matter.

Zoeya nods like it makes perfect sense. “I’ve heard Rythian talk about blood magic before, but I’ve never really actually paid attention. What’s it like?”

Strife huffs a wry laugh. “It’s exactly what it sounds like. Magic with blood. It’s a terrible idea, and,” he gestures vaguely at his face, “it leads to things like that.”

Zoeya’s mouth forms a ragged ‘o’ shape. “Oh. Oh gosh. That’s-- That’s not great.”

Strife nods in agreement. “Yeah, you’re telling me. I… studied it, for a while, in college. I’m just making sure he doesn’t do anything too stupid.” Like take people’s eyes, for instance, Strife thinks, a bitter twist of words in his brain.

Nilesy and Lomadia seem to have fallen into their own conversation across the way, sharing murmured words and soft smiles that Strife hasn’t ever really seen before.

“So he’s kind of like the apprentice to your teacher, is he?” Zoeya tilts her head with a half grin. “That’s what Rythian was to me, for a while, before I gave up on learning magic.”

“Why did you give up? I mean, aside from the fact that science is superior in every way?” A corner of Strife’s mouth turns up, almost smug.

Zoeya reaches over and elbows him in the side with her cool metal arm. 

“Hey, don’t be rude! Rythian does his magic and I do my science, and we’re happy!” She beams back at him, eyes glittering with teasing. “But I just didn’t get magic, beyond the real basics. It’s not as easy for me as technology is.”

Strife nods. “I always thought of it like a system,” he says, tone falling into his ‘teaching’ voice. “Even if magic is dangerous and unpredictable, it shares some of the same principles as technology, especially if you’re automating things.”

Zoeya gives him a small mock salute and laughs softly. Strife can’t help but laugh with her, softly - something about her enthusiasm is infectious.

“Wow,” Strife hears from the other sofa, Nilesy’s voice sounding genuinely shocked. “You got a laugh out of Strife? I thought that was imposs--” He’s cut off by Lomadia, elbowing him in the side with some force, judging by the way Nilesy’s breaths sound vaguely winded for a moment.

“It’s good to see you’re getting along,” Lomadia says, looking almost parental in her fondness, this time. Well, at least it’s more tactful than Nilesy.

Strife pauses, then exhales, nodding. “Thank you for introducing me,” he says in Nilesy’s direction with a tilt of the head. 

He feels… oddly relaxed. He’s in a room with two witches and a near-stranger, and he’s relaxed. That feels like something he should be worrying about, but--

He glances around.

Zoeya, Nilesy, Lomadia… all of their postures are at ease as well. Lomadia is leaning back on the sofa, looking as well-rested as Strife has ever seen her. Nilesy is wide-open, not even remotely on guard. And Zoeya is laughing behind her hand - she’s fidgeting too, but that seems to be a natural state for her, that she can’t keep still.

This is… odd.

Before he can think too much more on it, Nilesy stands up.

“Oh, yeah! I think we’re about to miss a meeting with some other witches, Lom’!” 

Lomadia pauses, then stands up too, with a smile directed in Strife’s direction.

“I’m afraid we are. But it’s good to see you’re doing well, and recovering from your ordeal. Sorry for the late payment.”

Strife blinks, then nods. “Oh, it’s fine. You got it to me in the end.”

Nilesy walks over and holds a hand out to Zoeya theatrically. “Is the fair mushroom princess leaving with us?” 

Mushroom princess, Strife thinks, in confusion, but then he finds himself speaking, words entirely unplanned.

“If you want, I can show you around my labs. You can see what types of projects might take your fancy, out in the desert.”

Zoeya makes a contemplative sound, then beams at him. “Oh, gosh, that’d be awesome.” At Nilesy’s theatrically chagrined look, she laughs. “I’ll pay the handsome pool-squire a visit another time!”

Lomadia comes over to steer Nilesy and his furrowed brow away. “Wait, why am I a squire,” he can be heard saying.

“Goodbye, Strife. It was a pleasure seeing you.” Lomadia’s calmer tones drown out Nilesy’s spluttering, and Strife gives her a wave goodbye. They can figure out their own way out.

Zoeya giggles beside him, and he smiles at her, standing up himself. He holds his own hand - metal - out to her.

“I’ll lead the way,” He says.

She takes his robotic hand with her own and pulls herself up, nodding.

“That would be nice!”

Something in Strife’s chest has eased, and he doesn’t think twice about it as he takes her through the assorted rooms that contain his projects. (There’ll be plenty of time for overthinking later, anyway.)

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me at screechfoxes on tumblr, among other places!


End file.
